Row over appointment of DERC head: SC asks CM, LG to meet to deliberate on names of former judges

New Delhi, Jul 17 (PTI) Amid differences over appointment of the new DERC chairperson, the Supreme Court Monday asked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena to discuss the names of former judges who could head the national capital’s power regulator, saying the two constitutional functionaries have to rise above “political bickering”.

A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Misra said it will take up the issue for consideration again on Thursday, and asked the counsel for the city government and the LG to apprise Kejriwal and Saxena of today’s development in the court.

“The two constitutional functionaries have to rise above political bickering and they should give a name for the DERC chairperson,” the bench said.

The apex court had said on July 4 that it will examine the constitutional validity of a provision of the Centre’s recent ordinance governing appointments such as that of the DERC chairperson even as the Delhi government informed the court the oath taking of Justice (retd) Umesh Kumar as chief of the national capital’s electricity regulatory authority stands deferred.

The appointment of Justice Kumar as the DERC chairperson has become yet another flashpoint in the turf war between the city’s AAP government and the Centre.